vanessarae's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Brooklyn, New York

Weeksville Heritage Center

Dedicated to preserving the history of free Black communities in Brooklyn and beyond.
Brooklyn, New York

770 Eastern Parkway

Headquarters of the world's fourth largest Hasidic sect and the first of many "770s" around the world.
Rome, Italy

Torre Argentina (Roman Cat Sanctuary)

Hundreds of lucky felines haunt the ruins where Caesar was murdered.
Rome, Italy

Museum of the Holy Souls in Purgatory

A collection of objects supposedly singed by the hands of souls in purgatory.
Rome, Italy

Santa Maria della Concezione Crypts

The crypts of Capuchin friars decorated with the bones of over 4,000 friars, including an entire "crypt of pelvises."
Florence, Italy

Buontalenti Grotta

A large grotto built in the 16th century amidst Florence's famous Boboli gardens.
Florence, Italy

Medici Hall of Maps (Sala delle Carte Geografiche)

Over 50 exquisite hand-painted Renaissance maps decorate a Medici storage room.
Florence, Italy

Studiolo Francesco I de’ Medici

Secret refuge and museum of the Duke of Florence.
Florence, Italy

La Specola Anatomical Collection

The largest and most famous wax anatomical collection anywhere in the world.
Milan, Italy

San Bernardino alle Ossa

An ossuary built in 1210 to collect bones from the Ospedale Maggiore of Milan.
Venice, Italy

Lazzaretto Nuovo

The plague quarantine island home to the alleged "Vampire of Venice."
Venice, Italy

San Servolo Insane Asylum Museum

Venice's "Island of the Mad."
Venice, Italy

Isola di San Michele

Venice's island of the dead.
Venice, Italy

St. Mark's Clock Tower (Torre dell'Orologio)

Go inside to really appreciate this 500-year-old technological masterpiece.
Foligno, Italy

Calamita Cosmica

The giant skeleton sculpture is surprisingly well-traveled.
Florence, Italy

The Relic of St. Antoninus

The mummified relic of St. Antoninus.
Florence, Italy

Galileo's Middle Finger

The middle finger of modernity.
Paris, France

The Wax and Bone Relics of Saint Vincent de Paul

Saintly bones pressed into a wax effigy of a Catholic superstar.
Paris, France

Chapelle Notre Dame de la Medaille Miraculeuse

A popular shrine where the Blessed Virgin allegedly appeared in 1830, displaying a holy armchair and two incorruptible remains of Lady Saints.
Paris, France

Montparnasse Cemetery

A Parisian cemetery where the elite and artistic are interred beneath an eccentric collection of tombs.
Paris, France

Le Droit Humain Masonic Lodge

The historic Masonic Lodge in which the first-ever female Mason was initiated.
Paris, France

Museum of the History of Medicine

One of the oldest medical collections in Europe focusing on rare surgical instruments.
Paris, France

Musée Dupuytren

Weird wax anatomical models reside here, as do other anatomical specimens.